Is that Glass of Red Wine Helping your Heart?

We’d all like to think that a glass of red wine each day provides a multitude of health benefits. In fact, that’s been a commonly held belief for many years. Antioxidants! A healthy heart! Live longer, they say!

Well we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your heart and health will thank us.

Scientists at the University of Victoria in Canada looked at 107 studies that examined the health of more than 4.8 million people, according to research published on JAMA (Journal of the American Medicine Association). The researchers concluded that moderate drinkers didn’t have a lower mortality risk than non-drinkers.

“Low-volume alcohol drinking was not associated with protection against death from all causes,” the study concluded.

The study also found “significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality” among females who consumed 25 or more grams of alcohol daily and males who consumed 45 or more grams per day.

So how much alcohol is safe? The World Health Organization released a statement earlier this year:

“When it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health.”

It is the alcohol that causes harm, not the beverage.

Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.

The risk of developing cancer increases substantially the more alcohol is consumed. However, latest available data indicate that half of all alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are caused by “light” and “moderate” alcohol consumption – less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week.

Although it is well established that alcohol can cause cancer, this fact is still not widely known to the public in most countries.  “So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of alcohol consumption or about its protective effects, we are ignoring the bigger picture of alcohol harm in our Region and the world. We need cancer-related health information messages on labels of alcoholic beverages, following the example of tobacco products; we need empowered and trained health professionals who would feel comfortable to inform their patients about alcohol and cancer risk; and we need overall wide awareness of this topic in countries and communities,” adds Dr Ferreira-Borges.